Congratulations! You're Suing Apple

Did you get an email this week telling you that you're currently involved in a lawsuit against Apple? Perhaps you'd like to know why you became so litigious?

Anyone who bought an iPod between September 2006 and March 2009 is now part of a class-action litigation against the company. Mashable has a post explaining the back story, but basically the dispute is over an old update to iPod software that prevents any program that isn't iTunes from adding music to your device. A customer sued claiming that the restriction unfairly blocks competing programs and somehow drove up the price of iPods. The suit dates all the way back to 2005, but only recently was approved as a class action, prompting lawyers to reach out to everyone that could potentially be affected — hence the emails like the one that popped up in our Inbox yesterday.

So what does that mean if you get one of these notices? Well, nothing right now. Even though this has been going on for seven years, no court has actually ruled that Apple did anything wrong. There also isn't a settlement, because it doesn't sound like something Apple would be concerned about. However, should there be a settlement or if Apple loses at trial, you and the millions and millions of people who bought iPods during the years 2006-2009 would be entitled to split the proceeds of the judgement ... after the lawyers take their cut, of course. Since that includes basically everyone you know, you're probably not going to make much money off the deal.

If you're not happy with that option, you can always opt-out of the "class" and sue Apple by yourself. Or you can do nothing and wait for the tiny checks to (maybe) roll in. Don't hold your breath.

Here's the list of the iPods affected by the lawsuit. We hope you saved your receipt.